Over the last year or so I’ve had a lot of conversations with members about their business use of social media. Responses and activity level vary up and down the scale, from “yeah, we’ve got someone dedicated to that” to “I’m just not sure I see how useful this is for our industry.”

Just the other day I received an email from a friend/business acquaintance who asked a simple question about an upcoming conference. I quickly replied with a short response and, me being me added a quip about the only time I hear from him is when he wants something. I even added LOL at the end. It wasn’t two minutes later that I got his heated response, tearing me a new one, saying that if answering his question was such a burden, no worries, he’ll ask someone else.

Brazil's economy, by far the biggest in Latin America, faces a brighter future after several difficult years. Consumer demand and investment will help Brazil post performance outpacing the rest of the region this year while the politics are finally left behind.

Having the opportunity to attend many of the international shows, a common theme continues to play out: the improvement of the global economy and the positive impact to the manufacturing world. As many companies enjoy these good times, they are also confronted with the impact to their supply chain since many are depending on the same suppliers and the lack of component supply. The other area that is impacted as well is the shortage of skilled personnel available to meet the growing demands.